Woven pile fabric



Oct. 23, 1928. 1,688,341

H. MASON WOVEN FILE FABRIC Filed Oct. 1 1927 N l/EN TOR ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 23, 1928.

PATENT GFFICE.

HOWARD MASON, OF SAXONVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

WOVEN PILE FABRIC.

Application filed October 1, 1927. Serial No. $3,403.

-, This invention relates to woven pile fabrics such as rugs and carpets, and more particularly to an improved weave whereby a pile fabric of increased softness and novel appearance is produced. I

The general practice now followed in the manufacture of medium and low priced rugs and carpets isto employ a two-shot weave to secure the pile tufts in place. In the higher priced goods the three-shot bind is employed because of the uncertainty of the bind of the two-shot weaves. The three-shot weave gives a much more satisfactory bind but increases the time required for weaving approximately fifty per cent (80%).

Some attempts have been made heretofore to produce a pile fabric having a three-shot bind in a two-shot loom, but, with the filling employed heretofore, it is necessary to use a double binder warp, or when a single binder is employed, to arrange the same to bind each face'and back shot between two rows of pile warps, the same as in all two and three shot weaves in general use, be cause with inelastic filling the weave would be too loose with a single binder warp engaging every other weft thread. It has also been proposed heretofore to use a weave in which each pile forming loop is bound to the ground fabric by two weft threads laid in each loop, and having such weft threads held in placeby binder warps laid over each weft thread between every pair of pile formin warps. v

it has been found that when'the types of weaves above mentioned are employed the pile will not present a smooth solid appearance, but instead, the face of the pile fabric will show slightly discernible holes, and present what is known as a pockmarked .sur-

do not completely blend together.

With thevgrowing demand in recent years for plain goods of a luxurious nature, the

well-known W00l-back chenille filled fabric has been employed to meet this demand but 'versely.

at an excessive cost to manufacture. This increased demand and the effort to meet it at a reduced cost has brought about the present invention which will now be described:

The present'invention relates to. a novel form of pile fabric having a soft thick ground fabric and a pile that presents an exceptionally smooth solid appearance, and 1n the surface of which appears a novel herring-bone design that is produced by impartmg to the. individual tufts a diamond shape that causes the tufts form the smooth surface and novel design.

An important object of the present invention is to obtain the benefits of the so-called three-shot bind with a balanced weave so as to produce a smooth-lying flexible fabric with a well-cushioned base such as is found in the so-called wool-back chenille. 4

Another object of the invention is to secure the smooth pile surface and pleasing design above mentioned, and at the same. time an elastic nature such as wool, instead of the commonly. used jute andlinen filling which'is practlcal y inelastic, and by causing the binder w rp between the pile yarn to bind only alternate shots of filling both face andback instead of binding each filling shot between rows of pile threads, as is usual, to the end that the softness of the fabric is to blend together and increased and the pile tufts are. free to spread laterally in a somewhat diagonal direction and blend together, as will be more fully explained later on. The tufts of the present fabric are arranged in diagonal rows and each tuft-forming loop is secured to the ground fabric by two weft threads, with the result that the woven fabric will not show objectionable lines or creases when bent trans The various features of the present invention will be best understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a piece of fabric constructed'in .accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the fabric of Fig. 1, some of the pile tufts being sheared off close to the ground fabric;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view through the fabric; and

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view through the fabric taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2.

In the fabric shown as oneembodiment of the invention the pilev forming warp threads 10 and the stufferthreads 1 1 are laid between the spaced Weft or filling threads 12 and 13. The stufier warp threads 11 form a filler between the weft threads 12 and 13 that increases the body and firmness of the ground fabric, and since these threads do not show at either side of the finished fabric they may be formed of jute or other strong inexpensive fibres that will impart the desired longitudinal strength to the fabric. These stuffer. threads or central warp threads are not interlaced with the fabric but are laid side-by-side. in a straight line to extend lengthwise of the fabric between the weft threads.

In the drawings, the pile forming warp elements 10 are shown as large single threads. This is done to increase the clearness of the showing, but in many constructions the pile forming elements 10, will be constructed of two or more strands of yarn in order to allow of a better distribution or blending of the pile forming material. Each pile warp element or thread 10 extends outwardly from the face of the fabric between the weft threads 12, and it is important to note that each pile-forming loop cut from the warp threads 10 is secured to the face of the fabric by two weft threads 12 both of which lie within the loop. 7

The pile tufts 10 are arranged in staggered relation to give the pile face a smoother appearance and to prevent the formation of lines or spaces between the tufts when the fabric is bent transversely, and to this end the tuft forming portions of two adjacent warp threads 10 are not drawn upwardly between the same pair of weft threads 12, but are drawn between a pair of weft threads made up of one of the previous pair and the next shot of face filling in the progressof the fabric, as will be apparent from an examination of the drawing. In the drawing, the letter a has been used to designate the pile-forming loops cut from the first, third, fifth, etc. or odd numbered threads, and the letter Z) has been used t designate the pile forming loops cut from the even numbered threads, and it will be seen that the rows of tufts extending transversely across .the fabric and formed by the adjacent ends ofthe loops a lie between different pairs of weftthreads 12 than the rows of tufts formed byfthe'} ends of the loops 6.

The warpand weft threads so far de- I scribed are secured in place by the binder warp threads 14 which may be formed of cotton or other strong flexible fibers and are v preferably small in diameter as compared with the warp threads 10 and the weft threads 12 and 13. weft threads 12 be formed of large soft elastic threads rather than hard inelastic threads, as heretofore, since large soft threads will hold the tufts in place more securely than hard weft threads, when bound alternately as herein described; furthermore, these large soft threads are one of the features that contribute to the formation of the pleasing design in the face of the pile, as will further 011 appear.

The lower weft threads 13, like the upper threads 12, are preferably made of large 'soft woolen strands, and in the construction shown there are the same number of weft threads 13 at the back of the fabric as there are weft threads 12 at the face of the fabric, thus forming a balanced Weave. The binder threads 14 bind each alternate single weft thread at the face and back of the fabric. This secures the weft threads firmly in place and binds the tuft-forming loops to the face of the fabric, while at the same time'it permits the large soft weft threads to expand sufficiently to form a soft flexible ground fabric.

It is the essence of the invention that the binder thread 14 provided between each pair of Warp threads 10 binds only each alternate weft thread, so that the binder threads 14 extending over a particular weft thread will be spaced a sufficient distance apart to provide a space in which the warp-forming tufts ma spread laterally and also permit the we t threads to bulge upwardly between the binder. This not onlyincreases the softness and flexibility of the fabric, as above men- It is important that the upper tioned, but forms clearance spaces in the ground fabric into which the pile forming tufts are forced laterally by the lay beat-up,

as will be apparent from an examination of the righthand portion of Fig. 2 of the drawing." The adjacent ends of a air of loops blend together to form a tuft T, and the diamond shape that is imparted to these tufts is due primarily to the use of a binder thread between the tuft-forming threads which binds only alternate filling shots, whereby the clearance spacesj ust mentioned are produced. This permits an increased lateral spreading action of the tuft-formii'ig material, as indicated by X, and produces a diamond shaped tuft rather than the usual circular or square tuft produced heretofore. While it is apparcut that each binder thread 14 maybe formed offa plurality of strands, it is essential that they function as a single thread, in that they bind only alternate filling shots, and they are therefore defined in the claims as single threads.

Since the tuft-forming loops a and b are Ill! pointed out, the tufts will lie in diagonal rows, as will be apparent if these tufts are sheared close to the ground fabric as shown at the right-hand side of Fig. 2, this being a well-known weaving feature; but such diagonal rows do not form intersecting rows in the face of the pile fabric to produce the desired design, nor do the tufts intermesh to produce a smooth face of solid appearance when the individual tufts are bound on all four sides by the ground fabrit? as is usual in the weaves known heretofore. This is due to the fact that if the pile-forming tufts are not allowed to spread sideways, as indicated by X in Fig. 2 of the drawing, then the adjacent tufts will fail to blend together smoothly, and as a result small holes or pits will appear between the tufts. On the other hand, if it is sought to overcome this difiiculty in the pile fabric of weaves known heretofore, by increasing the length of the tufts, then the diagonal rows will fail to ap-. pear in the face of the pile to form a. design thereupon.

The weave of the present invention completely overcomes the difficulties just mentioned and producesa new and entirely unexpected design in the face of the pile, as it is found that the lateral displacement of the tuft-forming material produced by the beatup, and the bending of the warp threads 12 about the base of the'tufts caused by the alternate bind of the binder warp threads,

- impart to the tufts a diamond shape, as

shown in the drawings. These diamond shaped tufts blend and intermesh together nicely to produce a smooth pile face that is entirely free from the holes or pockmarks above mentioned, while at the same time the diagonally disposed faces of the diamonds impart to the pile fabric a slight but clearly discernible herring-bone design, which is highly pleasing in appearance.

It will be understood/that in the actual' weave the various threads will be crowded together more closely than illustrated in the drawing, to close the spaces shown between the adjacent threads.

What is claimed is:

1. A pile fabric provided with diamond shaped pile tufts that blend to ether to produce a herring-bone design in the face of the pile and formed of pile warp threads woven in the fabric so that each pile forming loop is secured to the ground fabric by two soft elastic weft threads lying within the loop and the loops formed bytwo adjacent pile warp threads being arranged in Staggered relation, weft threads laid at the back of the fabric to correspond in number to the first mentioned weft threads, stuffer warp threads laid between, the two sets of weft threads, and a single binder thread laid between each pair of pile forming threads and arranged to permit the tuft forming threads to spread laterally and assume a diamond-shape that causes the tufts to blend together to form a clearly discernible herring-bone design in the face of the fabric.

2. A pile fabric provided with pile warp threads woven in the fabric so that each pileforming loop is secured to the ground fabric by two soft elastic weft threads lying within the loop and the loops formed by two adjacent pile warp threads being arranged in staggered relation, weft threads laid at the back of the fabric, stuifer warp threads laid between the two sets of weft threads, and a single binder thread laid between each pair of pile-forming threads and arranged to permit the tuft forming threads to spread laterally and the soft elastic weft threads to bend around the tufts to thereby cooperate in imparting to the tufts a diamond shape that causes hem to blend together'to form a clearly discernible herring-bone design in the face of the fabric.

3. A pipe fabric provided with diamond shaped pile tufts that blend together to produce a herring-bone design in the face of the pile and formed of pile warp threads woven in the fabric so thateach pile-forming loop is secured to the ground fabric by two soft elastic weft threads lying within the .loop and the loo s formed by two adjacent rows of pile warps eing arranged in staggered relation,

weft threads laid at the back of the fabric, .stuffer 'warp threads laid between the two sets discernible herring-bone design.

4. A pile fabric provided with pile warp threads woven in the fabric to form transverse rows of tufts having the individual tufts of one row positioned in stag ered relation to the tufts of the next row and each tuft having a diamond shape so that they blend together to form a herring-bone design in the face of the fabric, a single weft thread laid between each two transverse rows of tufts at the face of the fabric and a second weft thread laid at the back of the fabric to balance each face weft thread, one binding warp element laid between each pair of longitudinal rows of tufts and arranged to bind to the, fabric each alternate weft thread at the face and back of the fabric but disposed so that 5. A pile fabric provided with pile warp ternate weft threads at the face and back of threads woven in the fabric so that each pile the fabric to bind only each alternate weft forming loop is secured to the face of the thread and disposed to form clearance spaces fabric by two soft elastic weft threads lying at the diagonally opposite sides of each tuft 5 within the loop and the loops formed by two and into which the tufts are free to spread 15 adjacent pile warp threads being arranged in laterally to assume the shape of a diamond. staggered relation, weft threads laid at the In testimony whereof, I have signed my back of the fabric, stuffer warp threads laid name to this specification.

between the two setsof weft threads, and v 1 binding warp threads passing around the al-' HOWARD MASON. 

